The Saudi patient was hospitalized on Jan. 29 in a hospital in Riyadh
and died there on Feb. 10.

The woman had recently returned from abroad with symptoms of severe
acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the official said.

The above comments
describe the most recently confirmed novel betacornavirus case
(61F). Previously, confirmed cases include those who traveled to
Saudi Arabia to perform
Umrah. After developing symptoms, both cases returned home to
Qatar or England. The Qatari case (49M) became asymptomatic for
two weeks after returning home, but symptoms returned and his condition
deteriorated. He flew to England via air ambulance, was
confirmed, and has been hospitalized in England for the past 5
months.

The second case (60M) returned to England via commercial airline.
He was also confirmed in England and also remains hospitalized.
However, at least two
family members developed symptoms and two were confirmed.
Since neither had recent travel outside of England, human to human
transmission was likely. This would represent the export of the
virus from Saudi Arabia to the UK. In addition, five prior
confirmed cases were from Saudi Arabia

However, the above description
of the latest case suggests the novel coronavirus was recently imported
into Saudi Arabia, since the fatal case developed symptoms abroad,
prior to confirmation in Riyadh, suggesting that the virus is also
spreading outside of Saudi Arabia.

A recent media report cited
two additional cases under investigation, but details were not
released. More information on the travel history for the above
case, and detail on the two cases under investigation, would be useful.